LdiJ
Indiana
I have a somewhat strange situation. We have a good attorney but she is a very busy attorney and did make an error in a recommendation she gave to us so I would like to get some other inputs. I apologize, this is long, but I will attempt to be as clear and condensed as possible.
When my daughter was 15 she, along with about a dozen other juveniles witnessed two adults commit a very violent crime. It was touch and go for quite a while whether or not these adults would be charged with murder or aggravated assault and battery. She shouldn't have been where she was, when she was, and deserved some consequences. However also please understand that this is a child who had never been in any kind of trouble, not even at school, was a good student and was quite naive.
The police chose to charge all of the juveniles present with various crimes.
They chose to charge my daughter with driving the get away vehicle for one of the adults. There were two vehicles. My daughter was driving neither, and in fact was a helpless passenger in one of the vehicles (and the youngest there), and in fact the police had the confession of one driver (my daughter was a passenger in that car, and the driver forced the adult to get out of the car). The police were given the name, address and telephone number of the driver of the other car.
I believed my daughter, and so did her attorney, and everyone believed that it was just a question of getting the transcripts of the witness interviews to prove that an error had been made.
My daughter was released on electronic monitoring. She was a mess. She had horrible nightmares and daily panic attacks. I quit my job to care for her full time. After two weeks on monitoring (and I was with her 24/7) She was hauled into juvenile for 15 violations of the monitoring. It was impossible that she had done that, I had never left her alone at all. Nevertheless she remained in juvenile for 1 week until her trial date. In our county, any juvenile entering the facility is required to spend 3 days in solitary confinement before entering the population. This almost destroyed my daughter.
In the meantime the transcripts came in which showed that my daughter was definitely not the driver of either car. The attorney was confident that the case would be dismissed. Also, oddly, the transcripts indicated that the police had not charged, contacted or interviewed the driver of the other car.
Unfortunately, at trial the prosecutor asked for a 90 day continuance and the judge granted it. The prosecutor also asked that my daughter remain in juvenile until that date. Luckily the judge disagreed. She was again released on electronic monitoring.
However she was so terrified of being violated again that I was honestly concerned that she was going to have to be hospitalized for a nervous breakdown. Its too long to explain, but imagine your child curled up in a fetal position in the same room as the monitor, refusing to move. I asked the attorney if there was any way to get her off the monitor, I said I was willing to do whatever it took, including put my house up for a bond.
The attorney came back to me and said that the prosecutor was willing to offer a lowest level misdemeanor plea agreement, driving a car without a license, 3 months probation and 20 hours of community service, along with some fines and an agreement to testify against the adults. I specifically asked the attorney if this would in any way impact my daughter's ability to get a driver's license in the normal course of time. The attorney assured me it would not. (she was wrong about that) The rest of it didn't worry me because I felt strongly that my daughter needed to testify, and the rest was a good lesson for her. The judge added something...and that was that she had to wait 6 extra months to get her driver's license...I was ok with that too.
Anyway, my daughter completed everything that she needed to complete. In the meantime, the charges against all but one of the other juveniles got dismissed (because their parents weren't stupid enough to accept a plea agreement..sigh).
The prosecutor argued hard against letting my daughter off probation because she and one other child were the only witnesses left against the adults who could truly be compelled to testify (because of the plea agreement). It is now one year later...my daughter has still not been released from probation...because the trial for the adults has STILL not happened. The judge did waive ALL the fines..but won't release her. According to my attorney its because they only have two witnesses now to the adult crime that they can compel to testify.
PLUS...we can't even get her, her learner's permit. The judge reported the 6 month restriction to the BMV. (According to her probation officer juvenile judges NEVER report that sort of thing to the BMV) The BMV decided to treat it as a suspension and assigned her a driver's license number and won't release the suspension (even though the six months is long up) until she proves she has insurance. No insurance company in Indiana will give her insurance until she has a driver's license. MY insurance isn't acceptable even if I am willing to sign a financial responsibility affidavit (which is what is normally used for kids with learner's permits)..because they assigned her the D### driver's license number.
So, here I have a kid who no longer has any faith in the "system" at all, who has to repeat a year of high school because of everything she lost, who is still on probation 1 year after she should have been released, who can't even get a learner's permit because of contradictory bureaucracy. Who was considered automatically "on track" for college and had actually already passed the Indiana "exit exam" for high school while in the middle of this whole mess. (which few kids do at 15/16...they get multiple chances to try, starting young and she passed the first time)..who now will have trouble getting into college.
Anybody have ANY suggestions??? I do have her enrolled in an alternative program this year...that allows her to complete classes at her own speed, which gives her the opportunity to make up some of those missed credits...but I honestly don't know what to do about the rest of it...or if I even have any options.
BlondeIntel
When my daughter was 15 she, along with about a dozen other juveniles witnessed two adults commit a very violent crime. It was touch and go for quite a while whether or not these adults would be charged with murder or aggravated assault and battery.
The prosecutor argued hard against letting my daughter off probation because she and one other child were the only witnesses left against the adults who could truly be compelled to testify (because of the plea agreement). It is now one year later...my daughter has still not been released from probation...because the trial for the adults has STILL not happened.
If these people are not in jail, your daughter doesn't need to be driving anywhere by herself.
I honestly don't know what to do about the rest of it...or if I even have any options.
What specifically do you want to accomplish?
john123456
The attorney came back to me and said that the prosecutor was willing to offer a lowest level misdemeanor plea agreement, driving a car without a license, 3 months probation and 20 hours of community service, along with some fines and an agreement to testify against the adults.
Why would your daughter plead guilty to something she didn't do?
LdiJ
If these people are not in jail, your daughter doesn't need to be driving anywhere by herself.
What specifically do you want to accomplish?
They are in jail, and won't be getting out. Their bond was so high that they had no possibility of being released.
My daughter will be 17 in 2 months. Due to school and her part time job, and due to my job and school, she really needs a driver's license for logistic reasons. I also feel its unfair for her to continue to be on probation, with the restrictions of probation. We haven't been able to visit any of our out-of-state family since this happened.
LdiJ
The attorney came back to me and said that the prosecutor was willing to offer a lowest level misdemeanor plea agreement, driving a car without a license, 3 months probation and 20 hours of community service, along with some fines and an agreement to testify against the adults.
Why would your daughter plead guilty to something she didn't do?
Because I was stupid. I was really afraid that if she had to spend 90 days more on the electronic monitoring that she would truly crack and have to be hospitalized. Pleading guilty to a misdemeanor was the only way to get her off the monitoring quickly.
I also thought that she did deserve some punishment for even BEING where she was when she witnessed the crime. I know that I made the wrong decision, and I have to live with that.
Also, silly as it sounds, her dad had been teaching her to drive, out in the country, so technically she HAD driven without a license at one point.
